


Birthdays

by tatooedlaura



Series: Life, Part 2 [36]
Category: The X-Files
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 18:53:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13060062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatooedlaura/pseuds/tatooedlaura
Summary: “I love your peoples, Scully, all of them.”Snuggling in deeper, “pretty sure they’re your people now, too.”





	Birthdays

It was the blow-out birthday party to end all blow-out birthday parties.

Charlie was turning 30 … Dave 35 … Joanna 34 … Matt 11.

There were people everywhere, every corner of the yard, every square inch of grass, every atom of space filled with humans of all shapes, sizes and ages. Mulder had already saved two children from running headlong into the grill and stationed himself accordingly in order to rescue more if need be. He recognized approximately 25 of them but the other 1000 were a mystery to him, Scully having disappeared into the house on some kind of cooking duty, leaving him to navigate a crowd of strangers by himself.

Hence the grill stationing.

But then a thing happened.

A guy came over to Mulder, a younger guy, a handsome-type guy … and asked if he knew where Dana had disappeared to.

Then another thing happened.

Mulder felt a warm surge of unnecessary jealousy, “she’s in the house right now. She should be back in a few minutes.” The man began climbing the two steps towards Scully but that wasn’t going to fly with him, not at this point in his world, “something about puke on the carpet.”

Stopping mid-step, the guy turned towards Mulder once again, “oh … maybe I’ll wait then.”

As he held out his hand, “I’m Mulder and you are?”

“Marcus. Friend of a friend of Dave’s.” With a wink-wink, nudge-nudge feel to it, Marcus leaned towards Mulder nearly half-an-inch, too damn much in Mulder’s opinion, “figured I’d see if she wants to get together later, maybe have a drink, see if she still likes me as much as she did at prom.”

Jealousy evaporated as he cemented his opinion of Marcus as pseudo-phenom, douche-y used car salesman, “she’s busy.”

Marcus looked him up and down, intelligence taking things to a practical level, “boyfriend?”

“Fiancé … if we’re labeling things.”

Phenom walked away.

Mulder was still chuckling when Scully appeared, sliding up behind him, arms around waist, “what’s so funny? Have to corral another kid?”

“Nope. Visit from Marcus, twelfth-grade love of your life. He bolted when I told him I carried a very large gun and enjoyed seeing you naked on a regular basis.”

She nearly fell over with sudden, snorting laughter, having to grip his waist to stay upright, “Marcus is here? Oh, God, I haven’t thought about him in years.”

“He’s an idiot, Scully.”

“Aww, come on. He must have grown up somewhat since then.”

“Pretty sure he sells used cars now.” When she didn’t respond, he turned in her arms, saw her face scrunched in contemplative beauty, “what?”

“That makes total sense.”

&&&&&&&&

No more old boyfriends appeared, much to Mulder’s combined elation and disappointment but he met a string of people ranging from neighborhood friends to old classmates to extended members of the family he had only ever heard about. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore, pulling her close, dropping his head to whisper in her ear, “I need a break. Want anything to drink?”

“Family tree killing you?”

“Just getting crowded. I’ll be back.”

Disappearing inside the house, he found Skinner standing at the counter, looking slightly haggard, “holding up there, Walter?”

Maggie had invited Walter with the strict understanding that he need not come but come he did, showing up early, helping prepare, clean, cook but now, several hours of hoopla were taking their toll, “there are so many of them, Mulder, I mean, I have no idea who’s related, who’s adopted in like us, who’s just here for the cake.”

Marine bought to his knees by the Scully clan.

“Hiding?”

“For a minute and if you ever tell Maggie, I’ll throw you so far under the bus you’ll have skid marks for months.”

Mulder chuckled, “she understands. Want a drink?”

“Can we drink with the kids around?”

“I meant ice tea but you drink what you need to.”

He opted for ice tea as well, both men soon standing at the sink, overlooking the yard through the kitchen window, “do you think Scully would get angry if I moved in here?”

Mulder’s ice tea ended up all over the window, the counter and himself, “what?!”

Skinner shook his head, barely breaking a smile, “that was way too easy.”

&&&&&&&&&

Eventually, cupcakes and ice cream and various pies were served, Mulder’s blood sugar climbing to astronomical levels as he consumed a little bit of everything then a second helping of them all. He’d worked up an appetite chasing children, galloping like a horse with them on his back, tossing them into the ball pit Dave had rented for the occasion. Wondering if he may have pushed it with that last piece of pecan pie, however, he watched as Scully approached him, consuming what had to be her third cupcake and so relaxed it hurt his heart to think that less than two days before, she’d been tense enough to bounce a quarter off of, Josiah still fresh in both their minds.

Noticing him noticing her, she swung her hips a little wider, tilted her head a wee bit further down, gave him a slightly more sultry look than appropriate for her mother’s backyard through her fringe of fallen bangs and askew flyaways, hasty ponytail losing its fight with gravity at every step. Finally arriving in front of his turned-up head, throat exposed and luscious and for her lips only, “hi.”

“Hi.” Swallowing as he watched her tongue clean chocolate crumbs from her lips, “need any help with that?”

“Probably. Feel like coming home with me tonight, help me find any other crumbs I may have dropped?” Speechless just long enough for her to smile, turn, sit and scoot between his knees, she leaned back, using his crooked legs as armrests, head under his chin, “I was thinking your place, maybe, unless you’ve already got a girl there?”

Flirty Scully made his insides like jelly, his chest vibrating in low chuckle, “you are all the girl I need, believe me.”

And they sat quietly, watching family happen around them, present opening, Nerf gun fighting, ball pit battling, second round cupcake eating flurry of comforting togetherness.

“I love your peoples, Scully, all of them.”

Snuggling in deeper, “pretty sure they’re your people now, too.”

About to say something sweet, sappy and a little bit arousing in her ear, he instead heard himself ask, more surprised than her, “do you think you can call that invitro doctor tomorrow?”

With a litany of excuses to hold him back, keep him in check, fear of failure squeezing her chest in an instant, she nodded, “nine a.m.”


End file.
